“If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better. Forget about the future, and live each day according to the teachings, confident that God loves his children. Each day, in itself, brings with it an eternity.” ~ Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
“Life is the moment we’re living right now.” ~ Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
“Everybody seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.” ~ Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” ~ Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
“We deny the parts of ourselves that we deem unacceptable rather than accepting the fact that we’re all less than perfect.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“Effective listening is more than simply avoiding the bad habit of interrupting others while they are speaking or finishing their sentences. It’s being content to listen to the entire thought of someone rather than waiting impatiently for your chance to respond.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“One of the mistakes many of us make is that we feel sorry for ourselves, or for others, thinking that life should be fair, or that someday it will be. It’s not and it won’t. When we make this mistake we tend to spend a lot of time wallowing and/or complaining about what’s wrong with life. “It’s not fair,” we complain, not realizing that, perhaps, it was never intended to be.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“True happiness comes not when we get rid of all of our problems, but when we change our relationship to them, when we see our problems as a potential source of awakening, opportunities to practice, and to learn.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“If we would just slow down, happiness would catch up to us.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“Choose to be kind over being right and you’ll be right every time.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“The key to a good life is this: If you’re not going to talk about something during the last hour of your life, then don’t make it a top priority during your lifetime.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“Something wonderful begins to happen with the simple realization that life, like an automobile, is driven from the inside out, not the other way around. As you focus more on becoming more peaceful with where you are, rather than focusing on where you would rather be, you begin to find peace right now, in the present. Then, as you move around, try new things, and meet new people, you carry that sense of inner peace with you. It’s absolutely true that, ‘Wherever you go, there you are.'” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“As long as you think more is better, you’ll never be satisfied.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“The truth is, in order to experience a feeling, you must first have a thought that produces that feeling.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“As you put more emphasis on being a loving person, which is something you can control – and less emphasis on receiving love, which is something you can’t control – you’ll find that you have plenty of love in your life.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“Our disappointment comes about in essentially two ways. When we’re experiencing pleasure we want it to last forever. It never does. Or when we’re experiencing pain, we want it to go away – now. It usually doesn’t. Unhappiness is the result of struggling against the natural flow of experience.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“It’s interesting to consider that when you disagree with someone, the person you are disagreeing with is every bit as certain of his or her position as you are of yours.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
“Whenever you expect something to be a certain way and it isn’t, you’re upset and you suffer. On the other hand, when you let go of expectations, when you accept life as it is, you’re free.” ~ Richard Carlson, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff